A Dhaka court yesterday sentenced former chief of the banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) Maulana Saidur Rahman and two other JMB leaders to seven years' imprisonment each in a case filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act, reports UNB. The two other JMB leaders are Abdullah Hel Kafi, and his wife Ayesha Akhter. They went into hiding after securing bail from the High Court. The trial court also fined the convicts Tk 50,000 each and they will have to suffer one year more jail term in case of failure to pay the fine.
Special Judge Court-6 Judge KM Imrul Kayes handed down the verdict in Saidur's presence after examining 18 witnesses out of 21.
Besides, under section 8 of the act, the court sentenced them to six months jail and fined Tk 50,000, and they will have to suffer one month more jail term in default. The case was filed after the arrest of the trio on May 25, 2010 from the capital's Donia Nur Mosque area under Kadamtali police station for their alleged involvement in planning subversive activities across the country. The DB team also recovered huge bomb-making materials, firearms and ammunition and jihadi books.
After an investigation into the case, police pressed charges against them on October 23 in the same year. The trial that began on January 16, 2011 was suspended in September 2015 after media reports that the Home Ministry had not approved the case as required for section 40 (2) of the Anti-Terrorism Act. The case got the ministry's nod on August 26 last year.
Detectives pressed the charges afresh against the trio on January 4 and the metropolitan court took cognisance of the charges on the same day. The court indicted them on February 14 this year and the formal trial of the case began on March 24. Former ameer of Habiganj district unit Jamaat-e-Islami Maulana Saidur became the chief of JMB in February 2007, a month before the execution of JMB's founder Shayakh Abdur Rahman along with five other leaders.